The Ravenclaw Malfoy

Chapter 10 - Stars

I don't usually like waking up in the morning, especially if it's early. However, this morning, despite getting out of bed at around 8 am, I was happy to be awake. Today was the day we returned to Hogwarts after 6 long weeks. I missed my friends, the mystery of the place and just the school in general.

I like school, OK? Don't judge me.

Molly was right about packing yesterday. It was much calmer this morning, no one was rushing around trying to grab all their stuff in time. We travelled by Ministry cars again, much to my dismay. I tend to feel slightly ill when travelling by muggle transport. I was glad to reach King's Cross and managed to not throw up during the journey. Hurrah. Two miserable-looking Aurors escorted us to the barrier leading to Platform 9 and 3/4 the second we left the cars. Everything from then was quite hurried and before we knew it, we were face to face with the scarlet steam train.

The platform was very busy, unsurprisingly. A group of seventh-year girls swooned as a handsome Hufflepuff walked past. He winked at them and I am sure that one of the girls fainted. A bespectacled first year dropped an enormous pile of books all over the floor. I quickly helped him by offering a spare trolley to put them all on to. I rejoined the group as everyone now had come through the barrier. I was about to climb onto the train when I realised Ron and Hermione had stopped.

"We can't. Ron and I've got to go to the prefect carriage first and then patrol the corridors for a bit."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Harry said, disheartened. While Molly ushered us onto the train, I saw Harry and Mr Weasley leave the group, no doubt to talk about what we saw outside Borgin and Burke's. I loved Harry - no, not in that way, a friend kind of way - but this was getting a little annoying. He hadn't stopped talking about this since it happened and it was getting increasingly hard to lie.

I waited by the door to the train for him, Hermione and Ron had already left for the prefect carriage. Once he returned, Molly bid us goodbye and we clambered onto the train. "What was that all about?" I asked, referring to his private conversation with Arthur.

"I told him about you know, " he replied, adding in a low voice, "your brother."

"Thought so, " I nodded.

Groups of girls kept stopping us as we trying to find a free compartment. A flash of red caught my eye, turning out to be Ginny at the end of the corridor. Harry also seemed to have noticed and called out to her, "Fancy trying to find a compartment?" I noted the way he looked at her, a mix of admiration and longing. I couldn't blame him. She was flawless. Beautiful, intelligent, brave. Sadly, she declined, having already made plans with Dean Thomas. He watched her as she left, annoyance in his eyes. We eventually found a spare compartment and sat down.

"You like her, don't you?" I said, stating the obvious.

"I do not!" he protested. I raised an eyebrow sceptically. "OK, maybe a little," he said sheepishly.

"It's a shame she's taken." I sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You two would make a cute couple! Anyway, it's ironic really. All these girls running after you and you go for the one who's not phased at all." We both laughed at the humour of it all. There was a knock on the window and we turned to see Neville at the door. We gestured for him to come in and he took a seat.

"Hi, Neville! How was your summer?" Harry asked. Neville started to list off all the things he did but I just drowned him out. I could honestly fall asleep listening to him talk. It's not that I don't like him. Instead, I just hummed ABBA songs for a few minutes until Luna walked in.

Thank Merlin. Luna was a fellow Ravenclaw but in the year below me. She got bullied a lot but I remember helping her out of a sticky situation with a few Slytherins who were threatening her with various spells. We started to hang out after that and now we are friends. Not that she would ever admit it. She's quite distant in that sense.